Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

There many ways to classify films. One way is to divide them into films which will appeal to a broad audience (such as the Indiana Jones series), as opposed to "smaller" films which will appeal to a niche audience. This film is one of the latter. But as we so often see, it is often the niche films which garner little attention in which true greatness rests.This film is not about crashing cars or chases or murder or sex. It's about character.And make no mistake, Kevin Kline's measured performance here is about character, as well. I cannot imagine another actor who would have been so perfect in this role. Kline plays a sort of Mr. Chips at a prep school who inspires his students even while teaching about the Roman Empire, who realizes late in life that he has also failed a couple of his students and attempts to make amends...in one case successfully, in the other case not.Emile Hirsch is excellent in this film, albeit as a young man who become a cheat...and remains so in his adult life. And although the part is small, I rater liked the sensitive performance of Steven Culp, who also played one of Bree's husbands on "Desperate Housewives". In fact, it's difficult to fault any of the performances in this film. Superbly directed by Michael Hoffman.Perhaps this film connects with me because I was a teacher and school administrator. But this film gets a rare "8" from me.

Surfing through the more obscure TV channels I came across The Emperor's Club. To my surprise I found this film enervating and compelling from beginning to end. Sure, there were some ordinary moments, but I felt the emotions of the cast coming straight at me throughout. Kevin Kline was terrific as were all the others, who, by their variety and quantity were a starring but supporting cast. The dialogue at every turn added to the depth of character of the film in its entirety and the interspersing of the quotations added the icing to the cake. The story and its telling was riveting entertainment as well as being completely thought provoking. BLM

In the movie, The Emperor's Club, the base of the story declares a strong sense of character. When we see the boys at the academy, having a phenomenal teacher, everything seems perfect and right. But when Mr. Hundert gets a student who has absolutely no respect for authority, it turns their perfect world upside down. But the way in which the teacher handles the boy is what makes this movie so great and yet so wrong. Instead of judging the student right away, Mr. Hundert takes a step deeper into the boy's world and finds that all his pain is rooted in the relationship with his father. The student does not seem to be able to please his father and cannot find anything to validate who he is as a young man. Mr. Hundert does everything that he can for the student but ultimately he cannot change the boy's heart. This is where I found the movie to imply a false principle. It seems as though after the Mr. Julius Caesar contest, Mr. Hundert just gave up on him. Why did he not keep perusing him? I am a Christian and I guess this is why I have such a problem with the message the movie is sending. Mr. Hundert keeps saying, "I have failed him as a teacher," and then he finds his validations in his students who have had great success in life. It is all rather selfish. Why did he not try to not only help his student but show the student love? As a Christian we are called to love God and love others and to go out and make disciples. This student was basically asking for help in all the ways that he acted. He was starving for attention. We are not called to judge others because we do not know what kind of hurt or pain a person is carrying with them. The way that they are acting is not the issue; the issue is what caused the hurt or pain that they carry. Mr. Hundert attacked how the boy was acting out even though he knew what the root issue was. Instead he should have acted on the pain of the relationship between the boy and his father. Now I know this is just a movie, and I know it does not have a Christian view, but even with Christianity aside the message is wrong. Here we have a leader who cared about his students, who built relationships with them, who gained their trust, and respect, and as great as he was he did fail this student. I believe that when we have moments in life when we have the opportunity to truly care about someone who is hurting so much that no matter what happens we will not give up on them, we will fail every time. This is because we as humans, who are selfish and have a corrupt nature, cannot love someone unconditionally without Jesus Christ leading our lives and living in our hearts. When we make Christ the base for everything that we do and everything that we live for, he lives through us and is able to love people unconditionally. We have no power to change hearts, only God can do that through his son Jesus Christ. So all in all, the movie is good and portrays a message about integrity and character, but when it comes to impacting an individual's life and to mold and shape someone struggling into an individual with true character, the movie gets it wrong. If anything it shows how weak man is without Christ in his life, and how incapable we are to truly love, care, and pour into some ones heart without Christ reigning in our own hearts. But when Christ is in control of our hearts, he gives the power to make huge impacts on people's lives. It is just like the verse, "I can do all things, through Christ who strengthens me."

Loved this movie. The best I've seen in a long, long time. The message is that without intellectual honesty, we have and are nothing. Character is our foundation and our salvation. Being the smartest is fun, but true emotional intelligence is a real achievement. WHY wasn't this film nominated for an Oscar? Kevin Kline is an inspiration, while Emile Hirsch is truly brilliant in a difficult role for his age group.The movie reminded me of the Breakfast Club because none of the main characters are what they seem at first glance to be. They resist stereotypes and labels because they are so obviously imperfect, and the consequences of their actions are not clear-cut, to them or to the viewer.Excellent movie. Run, don't walk to rent this DVD. I'm amazed it didn't get more press at the time.